Ah music, one of the most influential forms of art to ever grace the face of the earth has evolved from classical sets on vinyl, the Blues, and Jazz to the latest pop tracks, hip-hop bangers and bass boosted EDM hits topping the charts in the last century. However, one commonality that spans throughout the industry and genres is music production. Literally every track you've heard over the past 30 years or so has been worked on in the studio, tweaking various elements in the song, perfecting it from start to finish.
Akin to almost every aspect in the modern-tech age, artists and music production professionals have shifted to Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) platforms. Using DAW software, an amateur producer to the best-selling artists can get started working on beats without anything other than finding the best laptops for FL Studio.
Modern ingenuity right?
What was surely an impossible feat back in the 1900's when music and various genres started popping up is now very much possible with computers and software. Things like sampling, recording and even editing can be done within one capable software, making the music production process seamless. When we talk of DAW software, we have to talk about one of the most recognized, cult-followed software around; FL Studio.
Now you might be asking yourself, what is FL Studio?
We'll get to that, and we'll also list out some of the top laptops when using FL Studio to fully optimize your workflow and production skills. First, let's take the time to find out more about FL Studio.
What is FL Studio?
FL Studio, formerly known as FruityLoops was actually a software designed as a MIDI only and released in 1998. Only in 1999 did things start evolve from just a software to create loops and simple musical sequences, to a fully equipped DAW software capable of producing some of the banging hits. One of it's most recognizable features is the no nonsense user-interface and separated workflow in various tabs.
FL Studio also houses a wide variety of audio effects plugins built-in to the software, and also supports VST standards 1, 2 and 3, meaning you can import third part plugins into the FL Studio to widen your arsenal of synths, effects and instruments.
One of the most popular features, the Piano Roll, is used to send note and data to the sequenced instruments and audio. From there, a whole host of tools are available to edit and manipulate complex tracks and songs. Plus their extensive collection of samples, loops and presets will have you making beats faster than you can say the word 'beat'. Well, not really, but you get what we're trying to say.
FL Studio has earned its place as one of the best DAW software around, which means you should probably have the best laptop for FL Studio to fully experience the splendors of music production. Be it if you are an up-and-coming music producer or a veteran in the industry, FL Studio is well suited to a wide range of users.
But to better understand what you have to look for in a laptop for FL Studio, let's take a look at the minimum system requirements.
Minimum System Requirements
As you can see from the above specs, you're truly not going to need much to get started on producing beats and mastering tracks with FL Studio. But what's left unsaid here is that this truly the minimum of what you need to get it running. Not necessarily the best experience with these basic specs, and we're here to tell you why.
Besides that, we're also going to highlight some of our recommended specs and features that the best laptop for FL Studio should have.
1. Operating System
The OS the best laptops for FL Studio is equipped with is highly subjective to your personal laptop history. Most laptops manufactured in recent years will be using Windows 10 as the default OS of choice, and we will whole heartedly agree. Windows 10 is the amalgamation of all Microsoft's failures and successes to create a seamless, powerful, and user friendly experience for almost any person around.
macOS however, is a whole different story when it comes to FL Studio. Besides the intrinsic differences within the OS such as the UI, commands and software, you won't notice a whole different experience in FL Studio.
But, they have mentioned the software for the latest Apple M1 Chip housed in the latest MacBooks is currently in development. Meaning, you might face significant performance drops using the software with an incompatible CPU. They'll sort this issue out sooner than later, but to be safe, we're going to focus mostly on Windows 10 enabled laptops in our search for the best laptops for FL Studio.
2. Processor
A good laptop will always house a capable, powerful enough processor to help manage day-to-day tasks and programs. For FL Studio and music production, even more so important. Mainly as the processor (or CPU) is the most integral part of laptop which manages how fast and efficient programs are executed.
Since FL Studio is a pretty CPU intensive task, especially with the use of multiple plugins, a powerful quad-core processor will be the most ideal scenario here.
Having a capable quad-core processor like a 8th /9th Generation Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor will ensure some of the best performance on a laptop for a reasonable price tag.
If you were feeling fancy however, and wanted the latest and greatest, the 10th / 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor lineup will be your best bet. We mention an Intel Core i7 processor predominantly as we feel the best laptops for FL Studio would be able to deliver consistent performance without any slowdown, lag, and crashing.
Investing in one of the best quad-core processor to date will give you piece of mind while you're producing banger beats late at night, without FL Studio crashing making you lose valuable data and music.
3. RAM/Storage
Besides the processor, two other specs that dictate how fast and efficiently your laptop performs is your RAM & Storage. As an easy explanation, RAM will help manage multiple apps, programs and files simultaneously by basically keeping it running in the background. For the minimum requirements, FL Studio mentioned at least 4GB RAM but we would recommend a little extra.
The most decked out you can ask for would be a 16GB DDR4 RAM, but since this might cost you a little extra, an 8GB DDR4 RAM will be more than sufficient to help you manage everything you do on your laptop.
The storage on a laptop simply equates to how much you can store on-board your laptop's storage capacity. For our search here, a base 256GB SSD is recommended for your hard drive as it's relatively affordable while providing a pretty great storage capacity. Having a speedy SSD rather than an antiquated hard drive (HDD) will also help manage load times and start up times.
Finding the right combination of processor, RAM and SSD is essential to ensure steady performance on your laptop.
4. Design
One important factor that doesn't relate to performance but is equally as integral to music producers: the design. This is mostly as music producers often are beholden to a certain look and aesthetic. It's varied and subject to personal preference, but it doesn't hurt to have a capable, powerful laptop with a sleek design and form factor.
Besides that, we also recommend a gaming laptop as a possible music production laptop. A gaming laptop will also almost always at least have decent speakers. But mostly, you'll find refined and powerful audio and speaker capabilities than you would on a business/productivity laptop.
For the most part, a gaming laptop will hit all the right checkmarks in terms of performance and aesthetic. Gaming laptop brands often adorn their beastly performers in RGB lighting around the keyboard and other areas such as a lightbar, ring, logo, etc. Another boon you'll see when you get a gaming laptop is more versatile capability.
Since you're in a creative industry highly reliant on visuals like music videos, graphics, stylized images, you're probably going to be doing this all on your own when you're starting up in the music industry. A gaming laptop equipped with a powerful graphics card such as from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX series, would allow you to confidently create your own visuals and videos in power hungry image and video editing software.
Best Laptops for FL Studio
1. LG Ultra PC
For those of you looking to get 'Ultra' performance and aesthetics, the LG Ultra PC could be your best bet.
The first thing you'll notice about the LG Ultra is absolutely towering 17-inch WQXGA display with super thin bezels around the top and sides of the display. These thin bezels allows LG to create a laptop with a huge, stunning screen while fully utilizing the space available which in turn results in a lightweight body. Even with the added screen real estate, the laptop manages to squeeze in at just 4.3lbs.
Another plus point you get with the LG Ultra is the undeniable firepower under the hood. Powering the laptop is a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U, 16GB DDR4 RAM and a sizable 512GB SSD. One of the latest Quad Core Intel Core i7 processors was impressive as is, but the addition of both the 16GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD will ensure steady performance for almost any CPU intensive task around. Perfect for producing beats on FL Studio without having to worry about your performance. The LG Ultra also features a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 which will allow for optimal performance for image and video editing/ light gaming.
Overall, if you were looking for a capable, premium, big screen laptop then the LG Ultra is the best choice for you. For all this power and design, you will have to pay a premium but we say it's worth the investment for a laptop that can last you over 5 years.
2. HP OMEN 15
Another fantastic choice for one of the best laptops for FL Studio is the HP OMEN 15. One of the latest arising out of the HP OMEN gaming laptop lineup comes with a redesigned and updated form factor. Most noticeable is the almost alien like command console looking 15.6-inch Full HD display with micr0-edge bezels. The isolated display chassis from the laptop frame isn't new, but the way it's done here gives it that additional style points for being unique. There's also an RGB enabled backlit keyboard, completing the out of this world design elements.
Besides the great design language, as the gaming laptop pedigree dictates, it's got some powerful performance to boot. For the CPU, we've got a 10th Gen Quad-Core Intel Core i7-10750H, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD making for pretty capable performer. But considering it is a gaming laptop, it does come with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card which should be more than enough to handle some graphic design and video software.
There's also some gamer-centric features that translates well for producers like OMEN Tempest cooling tech to regulate heat, HP Dual speakers with HP Audio speakers tuned by B&O for authentic spatial accurate 3D sound and up to 6 hours of battery life. All in all, a very capable, all-round performer with one of the latest 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processors, sufficient RAM and SSD storage with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU.
3. ASUS ZenBook 15
If you were looking for something a little more subdued in terms of aesthetics without compromising on performance, the ASUS ZenBook 15 could be the right fit for you. The laptop features a stunning 15.6-inch 4K UHD NanoEdge display with an outstanding 92% screen-to-body ratio. Both the screen resolution and clarity is impressive as is but I'm very into how the display frame looks with the sleek bezels surrounding the frame. One unique feature you're not going to see on any other device is the 5.65" interactive touchscreen trackpad which allows for easier multitasking and other functionalities.
On the internals we have one of the latest 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U processors with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. As we can tell from these specs here, even with the focus towards 'productivity', we're met with some flagship level hardware. The laptop also features an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU to handle all graphic intensive tasks. Considering the minimum requirements for FL Studio, the ASUS ZenBook 15 is more than decently equipped to handle the DAW software.
As a whole, the ASUS ZenBook 15 is the complete package with a fantastic display, super-powered performance in a slim, sleek form factor. A definite contender for one of the best laptops for FL Studio.
4. Lenovo Legion 5
The Lenovo Legion laptops have been a staple for many budget gamers looking for a reasonable deal. The Lenovo Legion 5 fills that quota and more with a 15.6-inch Full HD display, featuring a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate. That should make things like scrolling and on-screen movement look so much smoother compared to some other laptops on the list. It will also probably effect how smooth FL Studio feels on the laptop, which is a great little addition to the whole package. Otherwise, the exterior design is definitely more boxy, industrial than a 'sleek' design but considering the price and what you're getting for it, it's a reasonable exchange.
For the performance, the laptop comes with a 1oth Gen Intel Corei7-10750H, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Similar to almost every other laptop we've seen thus far, but the major differentiator is the considerable discount. Accompanying the Intel Core i7 processor is a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU for some gaming and editing software. The laptop also features a RGB backlit keyboard, Legion Coldfront cooling software, and a speedy charge that gets 0-50% in just half an hour.
The Lenovo Legion 5 is truly an affordable, budget gaming laptop that is uncompromising when it comes to performance. For the price, you're getting a well-built, attractive, and powerful music producing machine. What more could you ask for, really?
5. Acer Aspire 5
Up and coming music producers looking for a truly budget, affordable laptop to try out FL Studio should look no further than the Acer Aspire 5. This laptop encompasses the value-for-money aspects of a laptop with some stunning features, like the 15.6-inch Full HD display. It's nothing out of this world, but it's very effective in getting you a high-definition image on screen for a pretty stellar price tag. There's a simple design language all around the laptop, with a black display frame contrasted by the silver tone on the keyboard and rear panel.
Besides the simple, yet attractive design we're getting some best in class performance. Powering the Acer Aspire 5 is a 10th Gen Intel core i7-1065G7, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD which is on par with some of the best equipped laptops for FL Studio we've seen so far. When you consider the price, it's that much more impressive. The drawback here is you're met with a paltry Intel Iris Plus Graphics card which would at least cover some image editing and manipulation.
The budget laptop also features up to 8 hours of battery life, a finger print reader and a white backlit keyboard. Overall, a superbly equipped laptop with impressive performance, which manages to hit the core competencies of a laptop very well.
Conclusion
Out of all the laptops we've seen so far, only one can be crowned the champion out of the best laptops for FL Studio around.
This time, our winner is none other than the Acer Aspire 5!
The Acer Aspire 5 is the definition of getting your core capabilities right. You get fantastic CPU performance and a minimalist, attractive design for a very affordable price. For producers looking to get into FL Studio with a capable, affordable laptop, the Acer Aspire 5 is the right way to go.
